LIFE AND LIVING 



AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR 




Class IIE5_a503 



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Ci)HlfRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



LIFE 

AND 

LIVING 

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COPYRIGHT, 1916, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



AUG 2! 1916 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



©CI.A437345 



TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER 



:i> 



A number of poems in this volume are here included 
through the courtesy of the publishers of the Century 
Magazine, Harper's Monthly, the Bellman, the Poetry Re- 
view, the Forum, the Colonnade, the Boston Transcript, 
the Smart Set, the Outlook, the Delineator, Little Verses 
and Big Names, and the Anthology of Magazine Verse 
1914 and 1915. 



CONTENTS 



CONTENTS 

Page 

A Song of Living 15 

Mary of Egypt 17 

The Poppies 35 

Free . . 40 

The Wise 46 

The Flirt 48 

A Point of Honour 49 

Actors . . . .» 50 

At Parting 51 

Waste 52 

Vengeance 54 

A Shadowy Third 61 

Slaves 62 

Nocturne 63 

Surrender 64 

Chimera 65 

Saint Clara to the Virgin 67 

A Type 72 

FhTT 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Ulysses in Ithaca 74 

Syrinx 77 

The Dark Lady to Shakespeare .... 78 

When Antony Was Gone 80 

Dante, Paolo, Francesca 82 

A Spring Symphony 84 

April Song 87 

Three Songs for Children: 

The Travellers 89 

Rain in the Night .92 

Shadow Friend 93 

Our Pilgrimage 94 

The Difference 95 

Over the Pass 96 

A Mood 97 

Herb of Grace 98 

The Price 99 

Weariness 100 

Brother Angelico 10 1 

On the Ferry-Boat 109 

Euthanasia . . .111 



[x] 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Greatheart . 112 

The Pharisee Saved 113 

End and Beginning . ' 115 

A Prayer of Today 117 

The Angel with the Sword 120 

While We Have Waited 121 

In the Field Hospital 122 

An American at Verdun 123 

Kitchener's March 126 

The White Comrade 128 



[xi] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



I have pressed the grapes of my heart to make the wine. 

I have ground the wheat of my spirit to make the bread. 

I have called on the Lord of my garden, Love Divine, 

To hallow the table's head. 

Come who will, sit down at my board and sup. 

(He blesses the bread and the wine; do you hear? do you 

see?) 
You who behold only the loaf and the cup. 
Take what you find of good, and in charity go — 
But you who see by faith and by love who know. 
Abide, and share a sacrament with me! 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A SONG OF LIVING 

T3ECAUSE I have loved life, I shall have no 

sorrow to die. 
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be 

lost in the blue of the sky. 
I have run and leaped with the rain, I have 

taken the wind to my breast. 
My cheek like a drowsy child to the face of 

the earth I have pressed. 
Because I have loved life, I shall have no 

sorrow to die. 
I have kissed young Love on the lips, I have 

heard his song to the end. 
I have struck my hand like a seal in the 

loyal hand of a friend. 
I have known the peace of heaven, the com- 
fort of work done well. 
I have longed for death in the darkness and 

risen alive out of hell. 
Because I have loved life, I shall have no 

sorrow to die. 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A SONG OF LIVING (continued) 

I give a share of my soul to the world where 

my course is run. 
I know that another shall finish the task I 

must leave undone. 
I know that no flower, no flint was in vain 

on the path I trod. 
As one looks on a face through a window, 

through life I have looked on God. 
Because I have loved life, I shall have no 

sorrow to die. 



[i6] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



I 



MARY OF EGYPT 

N Alexandria, long ago 

There lived a woman, the legends tell. 
Her eyes were too sweet and her voice too low 
And she sold a ware that was ill to sell. 
As she went wandering up and down 
The busy streets of the sea-port town, 
The young would stare and the old would 

frown 
At the sound of her silver ankle-bell. 



T TEADY as wine was the ware she sold; 
In passion's ways she was all too wise. 
But the heart in her bosom was bitter cold 
And her costly kisses were empty lies. 
Power was the breath of her nostrils fair. 
She wove the spell and she set the snare 
To see a strong man pant like a hare 
In the subtle trap of her wanton eyes. 



[17] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



B 



UT there came a day in the fragrant spring 
When her heart was heavy with formless 

fears ; 
When weary she turned from the very thing 
For which she had bartered her brightest 

years. 
She walked alone by the murmuring shore. 
And the lips that had lured at the open door 
Were wistful and chaste as a maid's once 

more, 
And the wanton eyes were soft with tears. 



QHE spied of a sudden a man who came 
Along the road by the rippling bay. 
She fell with a sigh to the oft-played game 
And she lifted her eyes in her wonted way. 
She looked him through with her wonted smile 
Of a seraph musing on something vile — 
For the fettering ways of long-used guile 
Cannot be burst in a day. 



[i8] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



I 



NTO her darkened eyes he gazed, 

Deep, deep in. 
And Mary the harlot stood amazed — 
Her tempting smile grew tense and thin — 
Under the paint could be seen a flow 
Of passionate colour come and go, 
For she felt her heart like an embier glow. 
The heart where no fire had ever been. 



''CTR ANGER, stranger, what is your name 
"And come you hither from over the 

sea? " 
" Mary, Mary, hither I came 
" When I heard your spirit calling me, 
" From the tawny hills of Palestine 
" Where over the olives the white stars 

shine, 
" And sweet is the breath of the blossom- 
ing vine 
" In the valleys of Galilee." 



[19] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

OHE swayed to him softly, her eyes were 
^ bright, 

Swift and sobbing her breath she drew. 
"Stranger, where do you sleep tonight?" 
" Under the tent of blue. 
" A hole for the fox, for the bird a nest, 
" But never a house where my head can 
rest." 
She parted the folds of her silken vest. 
" Stranger, here is a rest for you." 



H 



E looked at her and his eyes were deep. 
Drowning deep as the midmost sea. 

Her spirit stirred in its life-long sleep. 

" Givest thou me no more? " said he. 
" Ask, my lord, to thy heart's desire — 
" Nothing in vain shall thy love require, 
" For I who was ice am a flaming fire. 
" What wouldst thou have of me? " 



[20] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

''T^AUGHT will I of all this," he said. 
•^ ^ " Give me thy love alone." 

" I'll give thee my life in a kiss," she said. 
" Why dost thou stand like carven stone? 
" I dare not touch thee, woman to man — 
" Yet . . . here am I for thine arms to 

span 
" In the way that was sweet since the 

world began — 
" Take me, hold me, I am thine own ! " 



QADLY, sadly he turned aside 

As if he saw not her pleading hand. 
" Nay, but I'll follow thee far and wide 
" Though thy way lead over the desert sand ! 
" Cruel thou art and hard to read — 
" Carest thou naught for my bitter need? " 
" Mary, I give thee love indeed, 
" Only thou canst not understand." 



[21] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



M 



M 



AR Y of Eg5^t walked by the sea ; 

Her lids were heavy with tears and wine, 
And she saw a ship that rocked at the quay 
Spreading the sail for the far blue brine. 
The Captain smiled when he saw her there, 
And blew a kiss to the harlot fair. 
" Where are you bound, sir Captain — 
where ? " 

" To the land of Palestine." 



ARY of Eg5^t leapt from the shore 

As the ship cast off her ropes from the 
land. 
The captain paled and the captain swore. 
But he held her safe by the small soft hand. 
" Girl, are you sick of life," he cried, 
" To spring to peril as groom to bride? " 
" Die I must unless I ride 
" To the port where your course is 
planned ! " 



[22] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

"TTOW will you pay your passage-fee? " 
-" " Silver and gold I left behind — 

" Will you not take me for charity? " 
" Charity's cold — I have in mind 
" A pleasanter coin for you to pay." 
Loathing she shrank from his touch away, 
But if she would go she must needs obey 
And give him his will when he said " Be 
kind!" 



' O at length to her goal she came — 

Weary and long was the way for her ! 
Sick and haggard with grief and shame, 
Driven by hope with a scarlet spur. 
Pilgrims passing, she followed them 
Up to the city Jerusalem, 
Where shone like the pearl of a diadem 
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 



[23] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



W 



HAT should she do in the house of God, 

A painted woman of life amiss? 
Of all the ways that her feet had trod, 
There was none that led to a door like this. 
But just as she turned from the door aside 
She saw the Face that had been her guide. 
And with pity and yearning His eyes were 

wide, 
And tender the mouth that refused her kiss. 



"•HE sprang to the threshold and strove to 

pass, 
But an unseen barrier stayed her feet. 
It seemed the portal was closed with glass. 
The call of His eyes was strong and sweet, 
But He came no nearer, He lent no aid 
In her wild vain struggle. At last, dismayed, 
Weary and angry and sore afraid 
She turned again to the crowded street. 



[24] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



M 



O 



ARY of Egypt cleft the crowd 

With eyes that only one face could see. 
Her beauty with pain was fierce and proud, 
She seemed the queen of a lost country. 
And all her thought was a desperate cry — 
" Is there never a sure swift way to die 
" For one so weary of life as I ? 
" What is the world to a thing like me? " 



UT of the throng there came a hand — 
Trembling it caught at her broidered 
sleeve. 
And she saw beside her a young man stand 
Stammering, " Lady, give me leave ! " 
And the look she knew in his eyes stood 

plain, 
The flame she had striven to light in vain 
In the Stranger's eyes — and a new sick pain 
She felt through her heart like a sword- 
blade cleave. 



[25] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY Of EGYPT (continued) 



H 



E was so young and his look so pure, 
For all the flush of his passion's fire ! 

'Twas his untried youth that had felt her 
lure 

As a young bird stoops to the fowler's wire. 

" Tell me, when have you trod before 

" The thorny road to a harlot's door? " 
" Not till the sight of you smote me sore 
" Did I know the sting of a man's desire." 



uqp 



HEN God be thanked it was I who came 
In the hour when your boyhood was 
left behind — 
" A broken creature who knows her shame. 
" Look in my eyes and be not blind — 
" Read the truth with never a lie, 
" Read the sorrow of which I die, 
" Strangle your madness and bid goodbye 
" To Mary of Egypt and all her kind. 



[26] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

''T?OOL though I be, I am wise in this, 
'■■ " Poor battered plaything of all men's 

touch ! 
" There's nothing on earth so cheap as a 

kiss, 
" And nothing that costs so much. 
" There's a gnawing worm at the heart of 

lust, 
" And the wanton's power is a pinch of dust. 
" Trust me, boy, while you still can trust — 
" Youth is so easy to smutch ! 

*'/^ SPENDTHRIFT morning that comes 
^^^ not back! 

" O treasure I held so cheap ! 

" I scorned the wearisome homely track, 

" And the tears of the heart are mine to 

weep. 
" Waste not your manhood — there waits 

for you 
" A girl whose world like your own is new. 
" Take her a heart that is clean and true, 
" And the troth that you give her, keep." 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



T 



HERE in the street of Jerusalem 

He knelt to her as she turned to go 
With a reverent kiss on her garment's hem. 
But her heart was too sore to know. 
She only knew she had seen the blaze 
Fade and die from his clear young gaze. 
Weary and faint she went her ways 
Musing what death should end her woe. 



A LOST child plucked at her trailing dress, 
Tear-stained, dusty, bewildered, wild. 
She caught him up from the trampling press 
And the little one clung to her neck and 

smiled. 
" Babe, thou art lost — more lost am I. 
" Babe, thou art weary — wearier I, 
" But Mary of Eg5^t must wait to die 
" Till we find the mother who seeks her 
child. 



[28] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



a 



'VJEVER this squandered body of mine 

" Innocent fruit of its own shall bear. 
" Jewels and gold on my breast may shine, 
" But never the gold of my babe's bright 

hair. 
" God of pity, what if I kept 
" This child who into my bosom crept — " 
She looked at him, and behold he slept 
Flushed and sweet as a rosebud there. 



'HE hid his face from the passers' gaze; 

She veiled her head with her purple cloak. 
She seemed a woman of ordered ways 
Walking among her country-folk. 
Wonder and rapture were all astir 
Deep in the ravaged heart of her 
When the street before her swam to a blur 
As close at her side a woman spoke: 



[29] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

"]\>T OTHER, bearing thy joy and pride, 
" Pity a mother whose grief is sore. 
" My son this morning ran at my side — 
" Now he is there no more. 
" Parted we were in the market's press. 
" Help a mother in her distress, 
"And Mary the Mother of Christ shall 

bless 
" The babe that love to thy bosom bore." 



a 



TXTHAT has love to my bosom borne 
^^ " But the bitter fruit of a longing 

vain — 
" To walk alone in a way forlorn 
" With the ache of an endless pain? " 
" Alas, was he false to his vows, thy man? 
" But that is their way since the world 

began — 
" We love as we must and they as they 

can, 
" And 'tis always the woman that wears 
the chain — 

[3^] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 



"B 



UT he has left thee his better part, 

" The open wound of thy grief to bind. 
" For the sake of the babe on thy aching 

heart, 
" Help me my own dear babe to find ! 
" Little and helpless and all alone, 
" Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone — 
" Help me, thou who hast also known, 
" For with seeking and tears I am wellnigh 
blind!" 



''\X7HAT was he like, this child of thine? " 
^^ " Sunny his hair and fair to see, 

" Curled like the tips of the tender vine 
" In the vineyards of Galilee." 
She felt the hesirt in her stop and shift. 
" Empty-handed Love bade me drift, 
" Yet I yield unto Love the one good 

gift 
" That life has ever brought to me." 



[31] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

''lYTYboy,mybaby!" 
IT J. « Break not his sleep, — 

"But take him, hold him, he is thine 
own." 
" Woman, thou blessed ! my prayers shall 

leap 
" Daily for thee to the heavenly throne. 
" Tell me the name for which to pray 
" To the Lord of Love thou hast served 
today." 
" Name no name, but only say 
" One who loveth, to Love unknown." 



M 



ARY of Egypt turned again 

To the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; 
And there were women and there were men 
Who signed the cross as they looked at her. 
For Love had lighted the lamp of clay 
And set a sign on her brow that day; 
But naught she marked on her eager way. 
The wanton turned to a worshipper. 

[3^1 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

"/^NLY to lie in a coward's grave, 
^^" Why should I leave a harlot's bed? 
" Better to sweep the stones that pave 
" The road that His feet may tread. 
" Better to cleanse a little space 
" In the world I fouled with my long dis- 
grace — 
" All for the sake of a voice and face 
" That are God to me," she said. 



QHE cast her down on the threshold there, 
She lifted neither her hands nor eyes. 
Veiled in the dusk of her loosened hair 
She lay on the stones as a mourner lies. 
Love swept her spirit with cleansing flame; 
Then into the flood of her prayer there came 
A voice she knew, and it called her name. 
" Mary, Mary, arise." 



[33] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



MARY OF EGYPT (continued) 

"DREATHLESS and hushed to her knees she 

rose. 
But she dared not look lest His eyes 

might be 
Sad and stern with the look that froze 
Her passionate pleading beside the sea. 
He spoke again, and his voice was sweet ; 
It threshed her heart of its last wild beat 
As the husbandman winnows the perfect 

wheat — 
" Mary, come unto me." 



T 



ERRIBLY fair as a fiery sword. 

Stirring and sweet as a trumpet-blast, 
Crowned with light she beheld her Lord, 
And her soul was purged of the past. 
In the light of the Face that her star had 

been. 
Lost were sorrow and self and sin. 
And Mary of Egypt a saint went in 
To the Love that she knew at last. 

[34] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



T 



THE POPPIES 

HIS is the garden of your joyous care, 

Where such a little time before you died 
You walked with pleasant pride 
And pointed out your favourites, the rare 
Tree roses, and the riotous delight 
Of poppies, from the crimson to the white 
Sounding the gamut of ecstatic hue. 
So richly-coloured was all life to you! 
You never called the world a vale of tears. 
Such long and loving labour overgrown! 
How soon the wild undoes your patient 

years — 
Not wholly; with each summer's weeds I 

see 
Poppies arise, self-sown. 
They are your garden's immortality. 



W 



HAT would be heaven for you? It com- 
forts me 

To picture you with leisure and with 
strength 

[35I 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE POPPIES (continued) 

To bring to life at length 

Your dreams of beauty — all your soul set 

free 
From the mean goading of necessity 
And from the bodily pain 
You bore so bravely, like a galling chain 
That heavy grew and heavier each day. 
When death struck these away 
I knew the magnitude of your release 
By your high look of peace. 
God knows I had no lack of tears, but they 
Were not for you. My sorrow was my 

own. 
I read, " / will not leave you comfortless 
" But I will come to you." I had not 

known ' 

The meaning of those words until your 

death. 
You were less near to me when I could 

press 
Your hand and feel your breath 
Upon my cheek, than now. You seem so 

near, 

[^6] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE POPPIES (continued) 

So full of life, so constantly more dear, 

I feel it only needs to turn my gaze 

To see you standing here 

Among your flowers, as in other days. 

Like little shouts of exultation sweet 

The poppies at my feet 

Loose to the wind their petals. Let them 

die — 
From them shall spring new beauty, by 

and by. 
They are not over-greedy for a pledge 
Of immortality; they give their best 
To earth — God knows the rest. 
So did you tread your path across the edge 
Of this our visible world. You did not 

hoard 
Your spirit's treasure for a world unseen, 
Nor chaffer with your God for a reward 
Ere you would serve. You did not even 

trust 
Your Master would be just. 
You went your way generous and serene 

[37] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE POPPIES (continued) 

And gave unquestioning all you had to 

spend, 
As friend to friend. 
If you had known that all should end in 

dust, 
You would have thought it shame to drop 

your sword. 
Because you fought your beasts at Ephesus 
Not for yourself — for us, 
Who loved in you the love of righteous- 
ness. 
There is no soul that touched you in the 

stress 
Of that great battle where you did your 

part 
So gallantly, which you did not impress 
With your own chivalry. In every heart 
That knew you, there is sown 
Some ruddy-blossomed seedling of your 

own. 
Whatever Heaven there beyond may be. 
This I can see. 



[38] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE POPPIES (continued) 



I 



F this dear presence by my love discerned 

Be your own self, the self I knew, returned 
From larger life in some transfigured guise 
Unseen by mortal eyes. 
Or if it be your spirit as it grew 
Unconsciously of my own self a part, 
Could it be any nearer, if I knew, 
Or dearer to my heart? 
You are in God, as you have always been. 
Although I find it sweet 

To dream that I shall know you when we meet 
In such a garden as you cherished here, 
I will not wait until I die, my Dear, 
For Heaven to begin. 
Sweeter it is to know that I can give 
Your deathless bounty to a world in need. 
I sow you as the poppy sows her seed. 
And in my love, you live. 



[39] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



w 



FREE 

HY did I do it? God! why did I do it? 

Lying awake here in a cheap hotel, 
And she beside me, sleeping, wearied out 
With pitiful brave efforts to be gay. 
I know how brave they are, I tell myself 
How brave they are, and yet they leave 

me cold. 
Her face is lax and faded as she sleeps, 
All prettiness and youth gone out of it. 
Although I cannot see it in the dark, 
I know, for I have seen it many times — 
So many times! How long ago it seems 
She was a dream of infinite desire — 
The symbol of a freedom I had lost. 
Lost? Worse than lost. I had been 

cheated of it. 
Cheated by smug respectability 
And law and custom and the other gods 
Whose sacrifices are the lives of men. 
Myself had clasped the fetters on myself — 

[4^1 



LIFE AND LIVING 



FREE (continued) 

That was, I think, what maddened me the 

most. 
My wife, my children, my position — all 
That made men call me fortunate — my 

God! 
When I have seen the freight-cars clanking 

by, 

A ragged tramp holding his perilous place 
Upon the truck, how often I have thought 
" To be free like him ! Oh, to be free like 

him! 
" To slam the ledger, never again to see 
" Columns of figures blur before my eyes, 
" To know the summits and the deeps of 

life, 
" To bum myself in the red flame of life, 
"To drink myself to death with life. 

maybe, 
" But to be free, to live ! " 

And thoughts like these 
Hot in my brain, I would go home and 

hear 
The thin monotonous gossip of the day, 

[4^1 



LIFE AND LIVING 



FREE (continued) 

The endless petty round o£ household 

wants, 
Until at last I lay awake in bed 
Hearing my heavy heart beat on and on — 
As now I hear it — and beside me lay 
My wife asleep — as she is sleeping now — 
And just because I knew that was her 

place 
I shrank away, out to the very edge 
Lest I should touch her — just as I do 

now. . . . 
Can this poor threadbare plaything be the 

girl 
Who shone upon me like the strip of sky 
Between a prisoner's bars? So free she 

was, 
So virginal of body and of mind, 
Light foot, light heart, a creature to awake 
The hunter in a man. I hunted her. 
And with her youth and all its reckless joy. 
I hunted her, and with her strong romance 
And passion like a torch. I hunted her, 

[4^1 



LIFE AND LIVING 



FREE (continued) 

Glad of her flight, her tremulous backward 

glance, 
Glad of her sweet shy trouble at my touch. 
I would have spent the Indies' gold on her 
And all the gems of the Arabian Nights. 
I grudged the money that my household 

cost, 
Grew angry over little needless things 
And made my children angry ; and my wife 
Never resented anything I said. 
Only grew gentler and more wearisome 
With little futile efforts to make peace 
Between the angry children and myself. 
With pitiful brave efforts to be gay — 
But then I did not think that they were 

brave. 
Only how deadly tired I was of her 
And of the life of which she was a part. 
I hardly can recall how it began. 
Taking a little here, a little there 
Of all the money that went through my 

hands — 
But I remember well the day I knew 

[43] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



FREE (continued) 

The thing could not be secret any more. 
What should I do? Confess and beg for 

mercy, 
Plead my long service and my stainless 

. past, 
Pray them to let me keep my place, and so 
Commit myself forever to the life 
That I had grown to hate? Forever lose 
My one chance to be free? Body and soul 
Sickened. ... I went to her — I told her 

all 
That I had done, said it was done for her. 
And now there could be only death for me 
Unless she held the door of freedom wide 
For us together. 

With a little sob 
She gave herself to me. We went 

away. . . . 
How little it was like my eager dreams! 
She only was a woman, after all. 



[44] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



FREE (continued) 



O 



H, what a little sordid hell it is! 

Not reckless glad adventure, not romance, 
Not even passion — only furtive shifts. . . . 
Dodging up streets to avoid a man I knew 
When I could look the whole world in the 

face — 
Chained like a slave to poverty and her — 
Why did I take so little in my haste? 
Afraid of her, afraid of other men. 
Most bitterly afraid of my own self — 
Would prison be more horrible than this. 
Lying awake here in a cheap hotel? 
Why did I do it? God! why did I do it? 



[45] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



w 



THE WISE 

E were so rich in wisdom, you and I. 

Too well we knew love's necessary price, 
And grudging the high god his sacrifice 
We laid not hold on life lest we should die. 



CMILING, we schooled our hearts that beat 

^ too fast, 

And dazzled by Truth's radiant nakedness 
We hid it with a fair and seemly dress 
Of chosen words — and thus our moment 
passed. 

T^ID we not well? I would that I might know 
"^"^ Your answer — but I know not where you 
are. 
You slipped from my horizon like a star 
Without a sign — so long, so long ago. 



[46] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE WISE (continued) 



I 



HAVE not failed of aught I strove to win — 

And yet on windy nights awake I lie 
In a numb wonder, while the hours plod by, 
Thinking of you — and all that might have 
been. . . . 



[47] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE FLIRT 

T3EAUTIFUL boy, lend me your youth to 
play with ; 
My heart is old. 
Lend me your fire to make my twilight gay 
with, 
To warm my cold. 
Prove that the power my look has not for- 
saken — 
That when I will 
My touch can quicken pulses and awaken 
Men's passion still. 

HE moment that I ask you need not grudge 



T 

"^ me 



I shall not stay. 
I shall be gone, ere you have time to judge 
me, 

My empty way. 
I am not worth remembering, little brother, 

Even to damn. 
One kiss . . . oh, God ! if only I were other 

Than what I am! 

[48] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A POINT OF HONOUR 

VT'OU say that I have wronged you so. 

You scourge me with your angry scorn 
Because I loved a year ago 
And now my love is all outworn. 
Think of the wrong I spared you — this : 
Swiftly and silently I fled, 
Nor lingered for one lying kiss 
After I knew that love was dead. 



[49] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



T 



ACTORS 

HE play is over. Still they stand embraced, 

Lips upon lips and fingers interlaced. 
Against her shaken bosom beats his heart. 
But each unto the other's face is blind. 
Their passion is a madness of the mind 
Drunken with Dionysiac grapes of art. 



[50] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



AT PARTING 

''/^OODBYE — true friends we part; is it 
^^ not so?" 

Yes . . . but perhaps some day 

A whispered word — a ballad chanted low 

As twilight gathers gray — 

The soft touch of a hand 

Will bring me back to you. You will re- 
member 

My look, my voice, this evening of No- 
vember — 

And you will understand. 

A ND then, as from your eyes the shadows fall, 
(Dear eyes that are so blind !) 
Will you not give me, recollecting all, 
One tender thought and kind? 
Nothing I ask beside ; 
Not even pity, for I would not grieve you. 
Trusting my secret to the years, I leave you. 
Silent and satisfied. 



LIFE AND LIVING 



I 



WASTE 

WONDERED why God let our pathways 
cross 
When I could only feel a sense of loss 
Shroud me like shadow as she passed me by; 
When I must hush the quick and blinding stir 
That shook my soul at the mere name of 

her . . . 
The nights I lay in anguish, wondering why! 

7"EiT I was glad to serve her in small ways, 
To hear her voice sometimes, to dare to 
raise 
My look to hers in humble reverence — yes, 
I was content — wellnigh — to thus await 
Her kindness, a poor beggar at her gate. 
Clad in the rags of my own hopelessness. 



[52] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



WASTE (continued) 

** I ""HEN, all at once, as if a cloud were rent . . . 

Without a word, I turned. Reeling I 

went. 

As one who sees a vision and then dies. 

But I — I live . . . and always in my sight. 

Dusking the day and glimmering through 

the night, 
Her bravely lying lips — her tortured eyes ! 



[53] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



VENGEANCE 

^OR God's sake, do not turn aside, but stay 
And hear me speak! Then you shall go 
your way, 
If so you will it, still my enemy. 
No love was ever lost 'twixt you and me — 
And truly hate with me was never lost, 
Jealously garnered like a thing of cost 
And hoarded in my bosom like — but wait; 
Sit here and listen. 

Though I cherished hate 
I loathed the thing I nurtured, for it ran 
Like fever through my veins ; my heart began 
Visibly to convulse my wasted side. 
Then came the inward whisper — " If he 

died. . . . 
" If passing I might spit upon his tomb ! 
" Is there no fate to deal him sudden doom, 
" To pluck him like an apple. . . ." 

There I stayed. 

[54I 



LIFE AND LIVING 



VENGEANCE (continued) 

Desire had given place to thought ; dismayed 
I looked upon my guest's unhallowed face. 
How long it was ere action took the place 
Of thought, no matter — but at last I found 
A luscious apple, its red fragrant round 
Mottled with gold; for such a perfect thing 
Might Adam have lost Eden. This I bring 
To the dark street beyond the Cattle-Gate 
Where weary eyes 'neath faded garlands 

wait 
At open doors ; to Tamar's house — 

No, no ! 
Till I have done, I will not let you go. 
Would I speak out, if you had cause to fear? 
See, lay your hands about my throat, but 

hear — 
Then, close them if you will. 

You know, I see, 
What ware is sold in Tamar's house. From 

me 
She took the apple, swathed it in a veil 
Of shifting colours like a snake's new mail 
And laid it where a brazen censer's breath 



LIFE AND LIVING 



VENGEANCE (continued) 

Lapped it in soft gray essences of death; 
While at the door I stood with dizzy eyes 
Afraid to watch her at her mysteries 
Yet held against my will. At last I laid 
The finished venom in my bosom, paid 
Tamar her price, and passed into the night. 
The stars in heaven danced before my sight 
For passionate triumph that at last I bore 
Your doom within my grasp. Cast on the 

floor 
I lay all night awake, shrewd to devise 
With what smooth words of kindness I 

would rise 
And proffer my peace-offering when you 

passed 
Upon the morrow. Both hands clutching 

fast 
The apple to my heart, toward dawn I slept. 
High rode the staring sun when up I leapt. 
I came too late, and missed you. There all 

day 
I waited. At the dusk, I went away. 

[56] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



VENGEANCE (continued) 

There passed a second day that brought you 

not 
Where my worn eyes kept vigil strained and 

hot 
Till the last green had faded from the sky. 
That night in sleepless dreams I saw you 

die, 
And strangled with wild laughter at the 

sight. 
That night . . . last night it was ■— only last 

night ! 
This morning, then, I passed into the street. 
In every casual step I heard your feet, 
In every countenance I shook to trace 
A sudden hateful glimmer of your face. 
And as each tremor seized me, in my breast 
I clutched the apple to the spot impressed 
By that dread load, those burning nights and 

days. 
I sat beside the gate. The noonday haze 
Wavered above the hot and dusty road; 
Then sudden I sprang up as from a goad — 



LIFE AND LIVING 



VENGEANCE (continued) 

I saw you coming. Who like me should 

know 
That walk? — you stoop a little as you go — 
Those folded arms, that pondering bent 

head. . . . 
I went to meet you. Drawing near, I said 
(Calm, very calm — the apple scarcely moved 
Within my garment), " You I have not 

loved, 
" And in my bitterness of soul too long 
" Have I gone sorrowing. If mine the 

wrong, 
"Take now my peace-gift. With no thing 

of price 
" I seek to bribe you ; let this fruit suffice, 
" As wholesome as my friendship — " 

God, the pain! 
I rent apart my robe, and where had lain 
My treasured vengeance was a gaping sore 
That bled corruption which a demon tore 
With white-hot claws from out my very 

heart. . . . 
Nay, but it was not triumph made you start 

[58] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



VENGEANCE (continued) 

And loose your fingers from my throat just 

then, 
For in your eyes dawned pity! 

When again 
I felt the solid earth, and saw the street 
With all its houses, and could hear the feet 
Of those who passed nor seemed to mark us 

twain, 
I knew that from the whirlpool of my pain 
I gazed on One, who though he had the look 
Of you, was yet a Stranger. Then he took 
The apple from my hand that clenched the 

while 
In agony beside me. With a smile 
He passed upon his way. Silent I stood 
As in a dream. The chaos in my blood 
Was quelled in harmony; I felt no more 
The rending anguish of that ghastly sore. 
People in passing turned me kindly eyes 
And I smiled back to them — the very skies 
Drew up my soul through depths of blue su- 
preme. 
Marvelling in myself — "Was it a dream?" 

Tsgl 



LIFE AND LIVING 



VENGEANCE (continued) 

I laid my hand where late the pain had burned 
And this deep scar made answer. Then I 

turned 
To seek you through the city — Let there 

be 
Peace and the open heart 'twixt you and me 
Till I may prove by deeds — why, what is 

this? 
Your hands outstretched? You stoop with 

eyes like his, 
The Stranger's, with a smile our strife to end 
On this marred bosom? . . . oh, my friend 

— my friend ! 



[60] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A SHADOWY THIRD 

VT'OUR arms are strong, 

*'■ And strongly beats the heart to which they 
fold me, — 
But stronger are the memories that hold me. 

Sighing I long, 
Not for your lips transfigured by their yearn- 
ing,— 
But for a quiet mouth to dust returning. 

What can I give? 
I have no longer anything you crave. 
It all was cast with flowers into a grave. 

You bid me live. 
And in your pleading passionate life blooms 

red — 
But louder speaks the silence of the dead. 



[6i] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



I 



SLAVES 

F your heart were stilled tomorrow, 

My heart must hold its grief unshed; 
You will have no right to sorrow 
When you are told that I am dead. 



W 



ITH an unremembering smile 

Among our fellows we have met, 
But when sleep strikes off awhile 
The fetters — Love, do you forget? 



T^O you never seek me then, 

^^^ And bittersweet with shame and tears 
Seal upon my lips again 
One moment out of all the years? 



[62] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A 



NOCTURNE 

LL the earth a hush of white, 

White with moonlight all the skies ; 

Wonder of a winter night — 
And . . . your eyes. 



H 



D 



UES no palette dares to claim 
Where the spoils of sunken ships 

Leap to light in singing flame — 
And . . . your lips. 

ARKNESS as the shadows creep 
Where the embers sigh to rest ; 

Silence of a world asleep — 
And . . . your breast. 



[63] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A 



SURRENDER 

S I look back upon your first embrace 

I understand why from your sudden touch 
Angered I sprang, and struck you in the face. 
You asked at once too little and too much. 
But now that of my spirit you require 
Love's very soul that unto death endures, 
Crown as you will the cup of your desire — 
I am all yours. 



[64] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



CHIMERA 

/'^OME I from the darkness, into darkness go. 
^■^^ Whence I fare and whither, never you may 
know. 
As you turn to clasp me, you are left be- 
hind — 
Evermore to seek me, nevermore to find. 

"^JOT for me the myrtle-wreath nor the mar- 

riage ring. 
Not for me the cradle nor little hands that 

cling. 
Mine the subtle glamour of imagined 

charms — 
Mine to be remembered in your young 

bride's arms. 



[65] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



CHIMERA (continued) 

"^rOT for me the hearth-side, not for me the 
"^ home. 

Mine the waste of waters flawed with flying 

foam, 
Mine the windswept mountains, mine the 

open sky — 
Mine the voice you dream of as you die. 



[66] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



SAINT CLARA TO THE VIRGIN 



A 



T last the day is done — God's poor are 

fed — 

The appointed prayers are said — 
Now, since I cannot sleep, let me awhile 
Speak unto thee 

Who knowest all the inner thoughts of me 
As might an earthly mother know — and 

smile. 
Mother of God, bless him who saved my 

soul — 
Bless Francis. Give him sleep! Thou 

knowest well — 
Who better? how he needs it. He believes 
Because his spirit can his flesh control 
That he is stronger than the heavy bell 
That rings the Angelus from our chapel- 
eaves. 
Only an iron shell to sound aloud 
God's praise! But we are wiser, thou and 
I . . . 



LIFE AND LIVING 



SAINT CLARA TO THE VIRGIN (continued) 

Ah, when I think of him with sickness bowed 

And I not by! 

Surely he rests now . . . does the moon- 
light creep 

In at the window? Touch him, of thy 
grace, 

And turn away his face! 

It harms the eyes, they say, shining on sleep. 

What does he dream? — he never dreams of 
me. 

To him it would be sin ever to dream 

Of mortal woman — sin and bitterness. 

Never through me let him one sorrow 
know ! 

Through me, whom he has touched only to 
bless. 

He found my life a chafing, troubled stream 

And from its channel cleared the rocks away 

That fretted soul and body into spray, 

And bade my freed and quiet spirit flow 

Deepening ever toward the eternal sea. 

Star of the Sea, bend over him tonight 

[68] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



SAINT CLARA TO THE VIRGIN (continued) 

And to his dreams disclose 

Thy perfect loveliness, — the only sight 

He longs for — and for me it will suffice 

To know that he is entering paradise 

Led by a vision of the Mystic Rose. 

That day I saw him, when he broke . the 

bread — 
I could not eat. I looked at him instead. 
It seemed to me Christ burned behind the 

veil 
Of his dear face — thou knowest when he 

speaks, 
That kindling look? ■^- but ah, he was so 

pale. 
With little shadowy hollows in his cheeks 
And temples — and I thought — " When he 

is dead . . ." 
Mother of Mercy! who will close his eyes. 
Those eyes of wonder? Fold upon his 

breast 
Those tender tireless hands, at last to rest? 
Will only angels tend him when he dies? 

[69] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



SAINT CLARA TO THE VIRGIN (continued) 

It needs a woman's touch — we know the 

• cost 
Of giving life . . . even the barren know 
As Moses from his mountain saw outspread 
The plains of milk and honey there below — 
The Promised Land he never was to tread. 
My children shall be prayers and holy deeds, 
Tears wiped from weary eyes — abated 

needs — 
It is enough. A heart dare not desire 
Heaven and earth at once ... a little head 
Ringed with a halo by our brother Fire 
Warm on the hearth . . . and little hands 

that clutch 
Hampering my steps ... so sweet ... al- 
most my hand 
Outstretched could touch 
The face that is all baby but the eyes 
So wonderful ... so wise. . . . 
Mother, I know that thou dost understand 
And smile ... as I have smiled upon his 
play. ... 



LIFE AND LIVING 



SAINT CLARA TO THE VIRGIN (continued) 

My little dream-son . . . how at close of day 
Hearing a step ... he drops his toys . . . 

and leaps 
To the opening door . . . where . . . 

With a smile, she sleeps. 



[71] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A TYPE 

CHE might have been a harlot or a saint 

Had she been bom in older, simpler days — 
Or happy mother of a sturdy brood. 
Now she tries on the vine-leaves and the paint 
Before her mirror, and the aureole's rays. 
And the rich dreams of fruitful womanhood, 



N 



OTES the effect of each with curious eyes, 

Then takes another pose. Void of desire, 
She never will be rash enough to sin ; 
For motherhood she is too cold and wise ; 
The martyr-passion of a soul on fire 
Never can glow in blood that runs so thin. 



[72] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A TYPE (continued) 

"DLOOD? Is it blood that in her pulses stirs? 
God knows what blues that vein upon her 
breast, 
For marble to the touch is not more chill. 
There's nothing in that lovely shell of hers 
To keep the promise by her smile expressed. 
She lacks the power to love, had she the will. 



"IVyTEN waste their kisses on her placid lips 

Till they despise the spell that lures them 
— then 
You triumph, women who have watched 

them pass ! 
Eager as homing, tempest-beaten ships 
They seek your warm humanity again. 
And leave her making eyes, the world her 
glass. 



[73] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



ULYSSES IN ITHACA 

TTHACA, Ithaca, the land of my desire! 
'■■ I'm home again in Ithaca, beside my own 
hearth-fire. 
Sweet patient eyes have welcomed me all ten- 
derness and truth. 
Wherein I see kept sacredly the visions of our 
youth — 
Yet sometimes, even as I hear the calm 
Deep breathing of Penelope at rest 
Beside me — cravingly my empty palm 
Curves to the memory of Calypso's breast. 
Ah, wild immortal mistress! With a smile 
You crowned my passion as a goddess can. 
I would not, if I might, regain your isle — 
Nor would I lose remembrance, being man. 



[74] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



ULYSSES IN ITHACA (continued) 

TTHACA, Ithaca, the wind among the trees, 
-'■ The peasant singing at his toil, the murmur- 
ing of bees. 
The minstrel plucking at the harp when cups 

are on the board. 
The measure of the martial dance, the rhyth- 
mic shield and sword — 
But oh, the sword-song broken in the beat. 
The sword-song that I heard by Simois ! 
The high fierce cry of battle's crimson 

heat — 
Whatever else I hear, I lose not this. 
No, nor that unimaginable song 
When through my straining limbs the cord 

cut far. 
Pallas, I thank thee that the bonds were 

strong — 
Yet was the siren's music worth the scar ! 



[75] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



ULYSSES IN ITHACA (continued) 



I 



TH ACA, Ithaca, and peace when day is done ; 

Life like a weary eagle folding wings at set 
of sun. 
The round of homely duties, the temperate 

delight. 
The simple pleasure of the day, the quiet rest 
at night — 

But I have known the thrill of danger's face ; 

Have launched my spirit as a spear is cast. 

The world and hell have been my living- 
place, 

Who choose to die in Ithaca at last. 

Odysseus has foregone the wanderer's 
part — 

But mighty Zeus ! how good it is to know 

That I have held a goddess to my heart 

And fought heroic giants, long ago ! 



[76] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



SYRINX 

r>LOW, Pan, blow! I am thy pipe, 
Let me thy music be. 
My lips for kisses were unripe, 
But not for minstrelsy. 
I could not love — I knew not how 
But see how I will serve thee now! 
Take thy utmost will of me 
In impulsive melody ^ — 
Silver treble, bass of gold, 
Not a note is false or cold. 
Play till music blend us two 
As no embrace would ever do. 
One only Syrinx — hold her fast! 
Loves may come and go. 
But thou wilt pipe unto the last. 
Blow, Pan, blow! 



[77] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



H 



THE DARK LADY TO 
SHAKESPEARE 

ATE me because I waked the worst in 

thee — 
Fling my discordant echoes down the 

years — 
Make bitterness of our brief ecstasy 
And mockery of our passion and our tears — 
Brand me as gypsy, wanton, what thou 

wilt — 
The hue of hell upon my beauty set — 
Scavenge all tongues for words to paint my 

guilt, 
And yet -. . . and yet 

Speak truth, lover that was, and foe that is ! 
What is thy loss when balanced with thy 

gain? 
Was it all poison, Cleopatra's kiss? 
Are not thy songs of me well worth thy 

pain? 



LIFE AND LIVING 



DARK LADY TO SHAKESPEARE (contd.) 

I£ the high gods bade Time turn back his 

book 
And brought thee once again unto the day 
That locked thine eyes and mine in our first 

look, 
Wouldst turn away? 

Speak truth' — wouldst turn away? 



[79] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



WHEN ANTONY WAS GONE 

CO he was gone. Awhile she stood unseeing, 
Swaying a little, whispering his name, 
"Antony — Antony — " till all her being 
Glowed with a pitiless fever of desire — 
But now she was alone . . . and there was 

fire 
Behind her eyes — and in her temples, flame. 

O HE raised her shaking palms and cried aloud : 
^"O Gods of Egypt, bring him—" but the 
prayer 
Was muffled on her lips as by a shroud. 
And the warm hollow of her bosom deep 
Where once his passion sang itself to sleep 
Shivered as if a serpent glided there. 



[80] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



WHEN ANTONY WAS GONE (continued) 

"O ED rose the moon. She saw its troubled 

■■^ • light 

Like blood upon the drawn steel of the sea. 
Over the fragrant languor of the night 
Drifted an acrid sharpness, like the smoke 
Of burning galleys. Through her teeth she 

spoke — 
" O Gods of Egypt, bring him back to me ! " 



[8i] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



DANTE, PAOLO, FRANCESCA 

* ' Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona 
" Mi prese del costui piacer si forte 
" Che, come vede, ancor non m'abbandona. 
". . . caddi, come corpo morto cade." 



N 



O greater sorrow than the memory 

Of past delights in desert hours of grief? 
That sword-linked pair had known their 

perfect hour. 
The spring's quintessence glorifies a flower 
And all the pulse of earth is in a leaf. 
So in that quivering kiss were he and she. 



[82] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



DANTE, PAOLO, FRANCESCA (continued) 

■1T7AS it for pity of their fate you fell 

"~ Before those twain, Dante, as dead men 

fall — 

Or of your own, dreamer who stood aside 

While Beatrice became the Bardi's bride? 

They paid love's price with body, soul and 

all, 
And lo, love still is theirs, even in hell. 



[83] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



T 



A SPRING SYMPHONY 

Allegro Con Moto 

HE touch of the springtime has broken the 
ice of the pond — 
It laughs and it sighs. 

The trees of the bank and the clouds that go 
sailing beyond 
See themselves in its eyes. 

A shimmer of topaz by day and of silver by 
night 

It trembles for joy at the touch of the wind 
and the light. 

Birds dip their wings there and ripples to 
melody start. 

Is it the springtime — or you — whose im- 
perious wand 
Has broken the ice of my heart? 



[84] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A SPRING SYMPHONY (continued) 

Andante Appassionato 
'"p^HROUGH the dark you sought and found 
me. 
There is no word for us to speak — 
Only your arms that close around me, 
Only your cheek against my cheek, 
Slowly toward each other turning 
Sure as the skies turn. Look, there slips 
A star from heaven — and now 'tis burning 
Here, love . . . upon our lips. 

Scherzo — Finale, Presto 

T OVE me for a lifetime, love me for a day, 
Little do I care. 
Light across the meadows laughing comes 
the May, 
Spring is in the air. 
Little lambs like daisies dot the fields with 
white, 



[85] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A SPRING SYMPHONY (continued) 

The silliest sheep that grazes feels the world's 

delight. 
We are two white butterflies on the wind 
astray, 
Flying — who knows where? 
Skies are blue above us, earth is green below, 

Golden is the sun — 
Golden as the cowslips where in merry flow 

Little rivers run — 
Golden as the beating of wild wings agleam, 
Golden as our meeting, golden as our 

dream — 
Wild lover, child lover, kiss me now and go. 
Ere the dream is done ! 



[86] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A 



APRIL SONG 

WAY with tight-lipped prudence! 

There's mirth in everything. 
God must have laughed at students 
When He was making spring. 
As Brother Sun discovers 
The green beneath the snow, 
Bookworms are turned to lovers 
Whether they will or no. 



w 



HEN every twig is budding 

Why should a heart be dry? 
When woods with song are flooding 
Let fancy sing and fly. 
With limbs too light for Duty 
Or Fear to catch and bind, 
Here's April in her beauty. 
The sweetheart of mankind! 



[87] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



APRIL SONG (continued) 



T?LING by your books to meet her. 
Remember she is sent 
To bear to those who greet her 
A quickening sacrament. 
Deny and scorn it never, 
Or all your wit's but cold. 
'Tis youth that lives forever 
And life that grows not old. 



[88] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE TRAVELLERS 

A NEEDLE of pine and a little red Leaf 
(And the Leaf was very young) 
Were tired of their trees and wheedled the 

Breeze 
Till free to the ground they flung. 
" This is all very well," they exclaimed as 

they fell; 
" Mr. Breeze, you are more than kind ! 
" But it's not enough, for we understand 
" There's nothing like seeing a foreign land 
"To broaden a thoughtful mind." 

'''TpRAVEL'S the thing," said the little red 
-■■ Leaf 

(For the Leaf was very young) 

" To give savoir faire and a jaunty air 

" And a foreign twist of the tongue." 



[89] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE TRAVELLERS (continued) 

So the two that day without delay 
Took passage aboard the Chip, 
The staunchest boat of the Forest Line, 
Ballast of moss and keel of pine, 
Just ready to leave the slip. 



"O 



H for a storm ! " sighed the little red Leaf 

(For the Leaf was very young) 
He cried elate " This is simply great ! " 
When at first they pitched and swung. 
Said the Needle in fright, " Waves inches 

in height 
" Are a terrible sight to see ! 
" Look — up on a foaming crest we go — " 
But the little red Leaf had gone below 
And wished himself back on the tree. 



[90] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE TRAVELLERS (continued) 



T 



HE Needle of pine and the little red Leaf 

(The Leaf was incurably young) 
Came back again from the perilous main 
With a foreign twist of the tongue. 
They were very blase and distingue. 
By home they were horribly bored, 
And the little red Leaf was heard to declare, 
" So silly, this talk about mal de mer! 
" You ought to go, for really, you know, 
" You can never be utterly comme il faat 
" Unless you have been abroad ! " 



[91] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



RAIN IN THE NIGHT 

jy AIMING, raining, 
All night long ; 
Sometimes loud, sometimes soft, 
Just like a song. 



T 



T 



HERE'LL be rivers in the gutters 

And lakes along the street. 
It will make our lazy kitty 
Wash his little dirty feet. 

HE roses will wear diamonds 

Like kings and queens at court ; 
But the pansies all get muddy 
Because they are so short. 



I 



'LL sail my boat tomorrow 
In wonderful new places. 
But first I'll take my watering-pot 
And wash the pansies' faces. 

[9^1 



i 



LIFE AND LIVING 



o 



I 



SHADOW FRIEND 

A Lie-Awake Song 

UT in the street there is a light 

That through my window throws at night 
The shadow of a pine-tree on the wall ; 
And while I see it nod and play 
And dance in such a jolly way. 
It isn't hard to lie awake, at all. 



WISH there were a friendly tree 
To keep the children company 
That in the city have to lie awake. 
I think their mothers ought to fix 
Window-box vines that climb on sticks — 
What pleasant little shadows they would 
make! 



[93] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



H 



OUR PILGRIMAGE 

OW sweetly runs the little road 

Along the river toward Sainte Anne! 
The world like one great garden glowed 
The day our pilgrimage began. 



T 



HE cedar was more spicy-sweet ; 
Bluer and softer were the skies ; 
The very daisies at your feet 
Were larger than in past Julys. 



O 



A 



UR silence was too dear for speech ; 

And when a little restless child 
Stumbled, and caught a hand of each, 
Your eyes grew deeper and you smiled. . . . 

H, never rang the bells so clear 

As when together knelt we two ! 
God knows for what you thanked Him, 

dear — 
All my thanksgiving was for you. 

[qT] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



T 



THE DIFFERENCE 

WO butterflies met in a garden; 
One, chrysalis-new in the sun, 
Flew bold to the opening flowers — 
The fairest and freshest he chose : 
But the tattered gray wings of the other, 
Their wildness of wandering done, 
Were quietly, quietly folded 
In the heart of a fading rose. 



[95] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



OVER THE PASS 

'IXT'HERE the thin glacier-stream 
Shivers in spray, 
Under my stirrup 
The world falls away. 



A BYSSES above me, 
Abysses below, 
Cold on my forehead 
The breath of the snow. 



ONELY I move 
' As a star through the sky. 
It may be like this 
At the moment I die. 



[96] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



T 



A MOOD 

HE wind goes clad in gray today; 

His waving garments mark his way. 
Across the plain's new green of grain 
He passes, visible with rain, 
Slowly, as he were sad. 
Wild comrade of past play, 
Where is the mirth you had 
But yesterday? 

The pattering shower his answer brings: 
" Today I muse of ashen things — 
" Of other, unforgotten springs, 
" How faint — how far away! " 



[97] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



HERB OF GRACE 

T DO not know what sings in me — 
I only know it sings 
When pale the stars, and every tree 
Is glad with waking wings. 



I 



ONLY know the air is sweet 
With wondrous flowers unseen — 
That unaccountably complete 
Is June's accustomed green. 



T 



HE wind has magic in its touch ; 

Strange dreams the sunsets give. 
Life I have questioned overmuch — 
Today, I live. 



[98] 



i 



LIFE AND LIVING 



B 



THE PRICE 

E AUT Y she had, and health ; a brilliant mind ; 
A talent that the whole world would have 

known. 
All these and youth she flung away — oh, 

blind! 
Upon a man too weak to stand alone. 
She dragged him from the slough where he 

was mired 
And set him clean in honourable ways, 
But she is faded now, and dull, and tired — 
Poot background, that he quite forgets to 

praise. 
See him, her patient martyrdom's one prize. 
Whom to redeem she held the world well 

lost — 
The smug complacent face, the shallow eyes ! 
Was his salvation worth the price it cost? 
What is in him that only she could see? 
God, is she blind, this woman — or are we? 

I99] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



M 



WEARINESS 

Y mind was footsore 
With running up and down in trodden 

ways — 
In the wilderness it rests. 
My heart was dusty with words — 
It bathes in silence. 
The weeping willow shimmers with young 

leaves, 
And under the dry grass the new springs 

green — 
I do not care. 
If out of the Impossible 
Your face should dawn between me and the 

pale sky, 
I would shut my eyes. 



I 

[loo] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



T 



BROTHER ANGELICO 

HE wall is waiting for my colours; now 
I close my eyes a moment. It is said, 
" He always has to pray before he paints." 
Well, so I do. Not what they call a prayer. 
And yet I think it comes as near to God 
As any form of words holy with years 
And sweetened with much incense. Near 

to God — 
Ay, near as rivers when they find the sea. 
It was not always so. There was a time. . . . 
I had a young man's thoughts. How many 

stripes. 
How many fasts, how many sleepless 

nights 
Cold in a hair-shirt on a bed of ashes ! 
And all no use. I prayed — ah yes ! my lips 
Were dry with words — but . . . come a 

breath of spring 
Up from the cloister-garden — if I woke 

1^1 



LIFE AND LIVING 



BROTHER ANGELICO (continued) 

To hear at dawn the music bubbling clear 
From some small swelling throat — what 

help in words? 
Or when it was my turn to feed the poor 
Who clustered at the gate, and while the 

hands 
Full-grown were busy with the dole of bread 
The little fingers of some child would reach 
Beyond the gift, seeking the hand that gave. 
It seemed as if that little clinging touch 
Sent a soft seeking flame through all my 

veins 
Straight to my heart, and there it burned 

and burned. 
I wondered how hell's fire could be so 

sweet. . . . 
And so I tried to seal my senses up 
And crust my heart with hard indifference. 
I painted, painted, painted — and was 

praised — 
Yet something in the calm unfeeling stare 
My saints gave back for worship troubled 

me. 

[ 102 ] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



BROTHER ANGELICO (continued) 

I thought, " Perhaps a man in bitter need, 
" Perhaps a woman who has lost a child 
" Will seek the altar where this picture 

hangs, 
" What comfort could you ever give to 

such?" 
They did not answer — they could never 

answer. 
There was no life behind them. They were 

cold. 
Dull as the idols that the psalmist scorned. 
Silver and gold wrought by the hands of 

men. 
Unseeing eyes and ears that cannot hear. 
Borne on slim flower-stalks of straight-fall- 
ing robes 
That never knew a human body's warmth. 
And slowly, slowly in my crusted heart 
Weariness gathered like a hidden sore. 
My windows could stand open to the spring 
And I not care — and neither bird nor child 
Could stir me. Then one day, I took my 

pencil, 

[103] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



BROTHER ANGELICO (continued) 

Sitting alone within my narrow cell. 
I took it languidly — so little thought 
Had I what was to come! The panel 

waited, 
And half unthinking, I began to draw 
A woman's face — Saint Lucy's, it may be ; 
I have forgotten ; 'tis no matter now — 
But when I came to the complacent mouth 
I smeared its shallow beauty swiftly out. 
Again I drew, again effaced my work. 
And then a sudden madness blazed in me. 
I struck my hand against the window-bars 
Till the blood came — then with the point 

red-dipped 
I drew again. . . . Oh, I can see it still, 
The gracious holiness that smiled on me ! 
No — not a smile — a wise grave tender- 
ness 
More sweet than any smile. My hand went 

on 
As if a spirit held it — drew the throat. 
The shoulder's flowing line of loveliness, 

[104] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



BROTHER ANGELICO (continued) 

The shrine of the deep bosom — surely 

there 
Was an unrecognized memory of the breast 
That gave me Ufe, my fair young mother's, 

dead 
When I was still too new to life to guess 
What dying meant. How else could I have 

known? 
And there upon that sweet and sacred curve 
A little clinging hand — a baby's cheek. . . . 
Unveiled, she shone upon my dazzled eyes, 
She whom unwitting I had called to sight, 
Life, Life incarnate. Make it plain who can 
Or let it be as miracles must be, 
An awful rapture beyond questioning — 
But this I know. I bowed my head, I 

swayed 
Forward, half-fainting, toward the canvas 

— then . . . 
It was not canvas where my cheek found 

rest. 
And sweet — ah, sweeter than the harps of 

heaven 



LIFE AND LIVING 



BROTHER ANGELICO (continued) 

And holier than all my thoughts of God 

I heard her voice. 

" Why hast thou feared me, son? 

" Why hast thou fled from me, Angelico? 

" Rest on this bosom that has fed the world 

" And know that I am good. Lo, I am Life. 

" To some I seem a terrible goddess, fierce 

" And cruel — but they do not understand. 

" 'Tis their own hearts that scourge them 
to their doom. 

" Unto those who see me as I am, 

" I am The Mother, and my Son is Love. 

" To see me as thou seest is to know me. 

" To understand through love is to possess. 

" No longer yearn for what thou hast for- 
gone, 

" My mortal bounty. Thou hast chosen my 
soul — 

" Translate that soul unto a waiting world. 

" Verily, verily, I say to thee 

" That there are many who have done my 
work, 

[io6] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



BROTHER ANGELICO (continued) 

" Sown my seed and raised my fruit, who 

wait 
" For thee, unmated dreamer, to reveal 
" The mecining of their labour and their 

love." 
Like church bells far away I heard her 

voice — 
Then everything grew dark. After a time 
Slowly my senses groped to earth again. 
There was my cell — the same, yet not the 

same. 
The sky between my window-bars, the scent 
Of roses, and the song of birds — the same. 
Yet not the same. Yes, there was I, the 

same 
Yet not the same, never again the same. 
For . . . there was — She. Reverently I 

veiled 
With blue and gold the glory of her bosom, 
Save where the baby laid his hand and 

cheek. 
Gold of the sun, blue of the noonday sky, 

[107] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



BROTHER ANGELICO (continued) 

And when my brothers saw her, one and all 
They crossed themselves and cried, " Be- 
hold Madonna, 
"Mother of God!" 

Was she not so — to me? 

A H, now the power quickens in my hand ! 

My colours — I see Love who goes to 
death 
To pierce man's blindness with the soul of 

life, 
And at his wounded feet Life weeps, and yet 
Sees through her tears, dawn . . . and an 

opened tomb. . . . 
So let me paint. Madonna, guide my hand ! 



[io8] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



I 



I 



ON THE FERRY-BOAT 

T'S thinking long I am, and my mouth is dry 

with the fire of it. 
(Circling over the water, hark how the gray 

gulls call !) 
And the bones in my body are gone to wax 

with the wasting desire of it — 
The scream of the waves and the gulls on the 

beaches of Donegal. 

T'S thinking long I am, and my soul is sick 
with the pain of it. 

(Smell it! can you not smell it? the tide com- 
ing in from sea?) 

And I'm limp as a man from the rack with the 
endless maddening strain of it — 

Walking the treadmill here while my home is 
calling for me. 



[109] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



ON THE FERRY-BOAT (continued) 

TT'S thinking long I am of a boy who was 
"*■ brave and merry — 
A boy they called by my name, clear-eyed and 

clean of the hand. ... 
Mary, Mother of God ! give me strength to get 

over the ferry, 
To turn my back on the water and walk ashore 
when we land ! 



[no] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



EUTHANASIA 

T GAVE you what myself I would desire, 
Dumb, faithful friend! 
Unto a life that had begun to tire, 
A kindly end. 

When joy was gone alike from work and play 
Sound rest was yours. 
Without the long slow torture of decay 
That man endures. 

XXZHEN I begin to find the world grown dim. 
And chill the sun. 
When weariness is lord of brain and limb, 
And work is done, 

When dead leaves clog the only path I see 
To journey through — 
May God as mercifully deal with me 
As I with you! 



[Ill] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



GREATHEART 

(To Robert Browning) 

T OVER of earth, great-hearted son of joy, 
His the triumphant fulness of delight, 
Because life's cup, too bitter-sweet to cloy, 
Can yield no dregs to him who drinks aright. 
Let Beauty veil her strangely as she would, 
To his clear eyes God glowed in everything, 
And since the heart of man he understood 
While men have hearts he will not cease to 
sing. 



[112] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE PHARISEE SAVED 

^'n^HANK God," one said, "that Life has 
mastered you, 
" Broken the hardness of your self-control 
" And swept you into living ! " 

Ah, I do — 
I do thank God with all my quickened 
soul. 

T7 OR heart that beats again, for blood made 

^ red, 

For kinship with humanity restored. 

For pride with sneering smile struck swiftly 

dead, 
I thank the Sender of the fiery sword. 

TT^OR what estranges man from the Divine 
But frozen heart and stony self-conceit? 
The steps that are unsteady with life's wine 
May stumble to the Master's very feet. 



[113] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE PHARISEE SAVED (continued) 

■pATHER, I thank thee for my weakness j 

•^ known, 

That shall be strength to serve my fellow- j 

men. j 

Silent my soul while I could stand alone — ) 
Since I have fallen, I can pray again. 



["4] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



T 



R 



END AND BEGINNING 

HE world of the elder gods is aflame. The 

smoke of its burning, 
Heavy with fumes of carnage, darkens the 

shuddering skies. 
Tortured flesh in ashes to tortured earth is 

returning. 

Baldur the Beautiful, rise! 

ISE, for this is thine hour. The mighty 
who said they had slain thee, 

Stretch their stiffening hands to a redly 
perishing prize. 

Thou who hast bided thy time in the tomb 
that could not retain thee, 
Baldur the Beautiful, rise! 



[115] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



END AND BEGINNING (continued) 

CPIRIT of light and freedom, behold thy 
foundation is ready. 
Dust and blood and tears, the glory of em- 
pire lies. 
Wonderful over the waste, strong as the 
sun and as steady, 
Baldur the Beautiful, rise! 



[ii6] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A PRAYER OF TODAY 

f^ CD of our world and all the worlds that be, 
^^ We turn to thee. 

If plea of ours thy purposes could sway, 

We would not pray; 

But since thy will its hidden goal hath 
wrought 

Beyond our thought, 

Father, we pray as did thy tortured Son — 

Thy will be done. 



"D Y wrath of man for very passion dumb. 
Thy Kingdom come. 
By lands left waste, and children desolate. 
By lust and hate, 

By tares and wheat alike trampled to mud. 
Ashes and blood. 

By cowardice, greed, cruelty and lies. 
Let men grow wise. 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A PRAYER OF TODAY (continued) 

"IXT'E would not hear thy prophets — yea, we 
^^ slew 

The ones who knew. 

Now each must hear the cry in his own 

breast 
That gives no rest. 

Must yield obedience to that master-cry 
Although he die, 

And through the tumult, as he may, divine 
What cause is thine. 

"D Y the stem brotherhood of grief and pain 
Advance thy reign. 
By honour that will pave the stricken field 
But will not yield. 

By larger mercy and by love more wide, 
By death defied. 
By faith which looks beyond the hour of 

loss. 
Bum out our dross. 



[ii8] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



A PRAYER OF TODAY (continued) 

'^rOT for ourselves alone, nor for today 
We die or slay. 
A race unborn shall tread our blossoming 

dust 
In times more just. 
' God, give us courage and the seeing heart 
To do our part. 
And through all bitter blindness, do thou 

still 
Work out thy will. 



[119] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE ANGEL WITH THE SWORD 

A ROUSE thee, Peace, and take the sword o£ 

power 
The wanton hands of War have made their 

own. 
Wake from thy dreams ! Behold, it is thine 

hour. 
War by his own excess is overthrown. 
Wrench from his grasp what he has held 

too long 
And gird thee with the blade that none shall 

draw 
Save at thy word and for thy sake, when 

wrong 
Threatens the holy majesty of Law. 
Unite the nations by a nobler tie 
Than common fear or common power-lust. 
The only cause wherein thy sons may die 
Is, that a world of brothers may be just — 
Till even justice be outgrown — until 
The blessed anarchy of Heaven be gained. 
When Love shall to the uttermost fulfil 
Law's bidding, and exceed it, unconstrained. 

[120] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



WHILE WE HAVE WAITED 

XXZHILE we have waited what each day 
might bring 
To all this wild tormented world of ours, 
There never was a more ecstatic spring, 
Nor sweeter jubilance of summer flowers. 

"^TEVER amid the waking forest gleamed 
"^ ^ The dogwood's pure exuberance more 
white. 
Never the honeysuckle hedges dreamed 
In richer fragrance through the quiet night. 



/^OLDENROD foams in seas of sunny 
spray; 
Glad liquid twitterings hail the dark with- 
drawn. 

What ffower do Belgium's children pluck to- 
day? 
Where do the birds of Poland greet the dawn? 



[121] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



IN THE FIELD HOSPITAL 

^OME laughed, some groaned away their 
pain; but he 

Through all his agony no murmur made 

Till as he passed into the Mystery 

Under his breath he prayed: 

There is a little house beside the shore 
Of the Soulange Canal. Geraniums red 
Are bright about the pathway to the door 
As if she beckoned with a smile, and said 
" Oh, welcome home! I listened for your 

feet! " 
She planted them while I was gone, one 

day. . . . 
God who made life so sweet. 
Let not this life of mine be thrown away! 



[122] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



w 



AN AMERICAN AT VERDUN 

Good Friday, 1916 

ELL, he is quiet now; let the guns roar, 

They cannot hurt his ears. I only knew 
He suffered by the tightening of his lips 
At each new shock of sound. He never 

told. 
How young and clean and strong that 

body was — 
So fit for every gracious use of life ; 
And now it's fit for nothing but a grave. 
Wasted — in a quarrel not his own- 
He might have stayed at home across the 

sea, 
Getting and spending, creditable work 
And harmless pleasure, love and wealth 

and peace, 
And all with honour. What wild wind of 

folly 

[123] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



AN AMERICAN AT VERDUN (continued) 

Caught him and drove him to an end like 

this? 
He knew that it was folly, when he first 
Felt death was coming. Then I heard 

him groan 
(Under his breath — he did not know I 

heard) 
*' O God, don't let me doubt that I did 

right! 
"Don't let me doubt! O God, don't let 

me doubt ! " 
And all the while, doubt rankling in his 

heart 
Cold as a bayonet. But then he passed 
Into delirium — spoke about his mother — 
And cried out "I'm so thirsty!" like a 

child — 
And then, all of a sudden, his clouded eyes 
Cleared and grew terribly beautiful, and he 

said 
" It's done ! It's done ! " And that was 

how he died. 
His mouth is smiling still. I shut the lids 

[124] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



AN AMERICAN AT VERDUN (continued) 

Quickly upon his eyes. Perhaps they too 
Have still their look, too beautiful to bear, 
As if a broken door let God come through. 
The pity of it — oh, the pity of it ! 
Dead for a dream. He did not need to die, 
He threw away his life — just for a dream. 
It seems as if I read something like that 
Once . . . long ago . . . 

Yes, Doctor. Here I am. 



[125] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



N 



O 



KITCHENER'S MARCH 

OT the muffled drums for him, 

Nor the wailing of the fife. 
Trumpets blaring to the charge 
Were the music of his life. 
Let the music of his death 
Be the feet of marching men. 
Let his heart a thousandfold 
Take the field again ! 

F his patience, of his calm. 
Of his quiet faithfulness, 
England, raise your hero's cairn! 
He is worthy of no less. 
Stone by stone, in silence laid. 
Singly, surely, let it grow. 
He whose living was to serve 
Would have had it so. 



[126] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



KITCHENER'S MARCH (continued) 



T 



HERE'S a body drifting down 
For the mighty sea to keep. 
There's a spirit cannot die 
While a heart is left to leap 
In the land he gave his all, 
Steel alike to praise and hate. 
He has saved the life he spent 
Death has struck too late. 

Not the mufEed drums for him, 
Not the wailing of the fife. 
Trumpets blaring to the charge 
Were the music of his life. 
Let the music of his death 
Be the feet of marching men. 
Let his heart a thousandfold 
Take the field again! 



[127] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE WHITE COMRADE 

pERHAPS they had no time to think of Him, 

Those comfortable men, when business 

urged ; 

And where the dusty whirl of pleasure surged 

The memory of His face no doubt grew 

dim — 
But when they turned from safety and con- 
tent, 
Unflinchingly laid by 
The tools of their prosperity, and went 
To suffer and to die 

For just a thought, a disembodied dream 
That some call Nothing — -when they knew 

the wrench 
Of raveled nerves, the squalor of the trench. 
The dying look's reproach, the scarlet steam 
Of battle hand to hand — amid that hell 
Of agony, they looked into the eyes 
They had not seen, in days when all was well. 

[ 128 ] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



THE WHITE COMRADE (continued) 

Out of the marsh of death they saw Him rise 
In the white robes that gladdened Galilee, 
Walking the hot red waves of blood and 

flame 
As long ago He came 
To those that laboured on a troubled sea. 
And they, who had forgotten Him so long, 
Remembered that those wounded hands were 

strong 
And infinitely kind. . . . 
O Lord of Love! shall we not understand. 
Who in our comfort are as grossly blind? 
We prosper to the height of our desire — 
How should our rich and busy hands require 
Aught of the Wounded Hand? 
Till comes a day when we are under fire, 
Spent, bleeding, stripped of our complacent 

pride, 
And beaten to the last extremity. 
Then, a living presence at our side, 
White Comrade, we find — Thee. 



[ 129] 



LIFE AND LIVING 



Out of my living 
Grew my songs. 
Back I am giving 
What life gave to me. 
Unto the sower 
The harvest belongs. 
Earth keeps the vision 
Of harvests to be. 



[130] 



